


the super pal trio

by demigods_rule55



Series: weird [3]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Attempt at Humor, Awkward Conversations, Comedy, Crack, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Hi!, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Jealousy, its still crack lol, oh my god this took so long omg
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:07:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29031402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demigods_rule55/pseuds/demigods_rule55
Summary: ***"What the fuck?""Drive!""Get out of my car!"***ohhhh right we kidnapped you. lol i forgot about that! crazyhow do you FORGET that you KIDNAPPED SOMEONE?***Adora stared at her with clenched fists."How could you do this to me?" her voice trembled with emotion.***AKA, how the Super Pal Trio came to be in this coffee shop au.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Entrapta & Hordak (She-Ra), Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra), very much referenced entrapdak
Series: weird [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1991398
Comments: 12
Kudos: 67





	1. the braincell

**Author's Note:**

> I SAID I'D BE BACK OKAY I SAID I'D BE BACK AND HERE I AM DON'T BE MAD AT ME
> 
> **so how's life been goin for y'all.**
> 
> this is the first time i mean it when i say, "so, the economy, right??"
> 
> asdfhkasjdfhkasjdflaksjdf Guess what. this one has a plot!!! so enjoy the first chapter and i think i'll get the second one done by this time next week. :)

_**March 12th, 2016** _

Catra was sitting in the car she had "borrowed" from Casta, scrolling through her phone looking for a place where she could get lunch when she found a razor sharp _something_ against her neck.

"Hello!?"

She turned around, nearly dropping her phone, to find the source of the _knife_ , which a weird circular robot thing. Even weirder, a purple haired woman in overalls was in her backseat. In the distance, she could see uniformed men quickly approaching her car. 

"What the fuck?"

The lady looked frantically between the officers and Catra. 

"Drive!"

Catra blinked at her then glared. "Get out of my car!"

"I can't!"

"What, is your ass glued to the seat or something? Get out!"

The robot pointed the knife in her face again and made a whirring noise. Catra hissed right back at it, and it pulled its limbback.

"Its a long story but Emily and I bonded! And now those guys think I stole her - listen," her unwelcome passenger slid down the seat to hide from security. "I just need you to drop me and Emily at my house."

Upon its name, the robot thing turned, noticed the lady on the floor of the car, and also crouched down to hide.

"Emily." Catra said.

Emily whirred, it's eye? Light? Thing? Looking at Catra. Catra tilted her head at it. Emily tilted its weird sphere thing back at her.

"Aww, she's learning!" The lady petted the robots head, and Emily made a happy whirring sound. "See? Do you really want me to lose this beautiful piece of tech? Help!"

The officers were closer to her car now. In about two minutes, they'd be able to spot the lady's purple long hair and the light emanating from the robot.

"Oh, fuck me," Catra sighed, turning off the ignition and exiting her car. "Now I've gotta _walk_ all the way to this goddamn Chipotle..." she muttered, hearing the lady exclaim in the backseat of her car. Catra walked past the car and the officers. One of them called out to her, but she flipped them off and kept walking.

_That car better not have a scratch on it when I get back._

***

_**March 24th, 2016** _

Catra looked away for two seconds, and someone had stolen her new car.

"Oh fuck me!" she exclaimed, realizing the spot she had left it in was now vacant.

"Miss? Are you okay?" a concerned passerby asked her. 

Catra took a few steps back and rubbed her eyes. When she opened them, the car was still gone. She closed her eyes roughly and pinched her arm. Nope, still not there.

"Um, miss?"

She realized someone was there. "Sorry, what?"

"I was asking if you are okay?" the guy asked her nervously.

"I haven't ever been okay, so no, but thank you for asking."

Catra groaned, realizing she had left her bag in the car, which meant her laptop had also been stolen, her books were gone, what else... her scented hand sanitizer Casta had given her, and - 

"Oh," Catra growled, realizing the person who took her car _also_ took the knitted mitten Casta had made for her, " _Now_ its personal..."

Catra looked at the guy again, who was slowly walking away from her. Maybe he saw the person who stole it. 

"You! Turtleneck!"

The guy jumped and turned to her. "Me?"

Catra rolled her eyes. " _No,_ I was talking about the _other_ guy wearing a turtleneck in fucking March."

To Catra's dismay, the guy actually started looking around to find someone wearing a turtleneck.

"Oh my God, never mind!" Catra looked around, hoping for any other sort of clue. She saw a security camera in the corner, it would definitely have captured who took it.

So Catra snuck past the guards and into the facility she had parked near, wandering the halls, trying to find the security room.

And that was when she met Emily again.

The robot whirred happily and sat down in front of her, tilting its head. 

"Um. Shoo." Catra kicked some dust at it. Emily made a beep noise. "Go away." 

_Beep beep._

"Uh, fetch!" She mimed throwing something. Emily kept staring at her blankly.

"Seriously, what do you want?"

_Whirr._

"Don't you have a scientist to assist or something?"

_Beep._

"Ugh. Okay..." Catra had an idea. "Say, uh, Emily? Would you happen to know where the security camera feed goes?"

Emily stared blankly at her. Then she started whirring, stood up on her legs - one which had threatened to cut Catra up like, a week ago - and started moving towards what she _hoped_ would be the security room. 

It was! 

Robot: 1, Catra: 0.

Catra started messing around with the controls - the room was empty so it's not like she could intimidate some IT nerd into doing it for her.

"Emily?"

_Oh, maybe I can._

"Emily! There you are!" Purple-haired overalls entered the room, patting the robot on the head before noticing Catra. Catra expected some sort of confrontation for leaving her locked in a car to be arrested, but instead she just smiled and waved.

"Ah, lady from the car! What are you doing here?"

"I'm just trying to find out who stole my car, don't call security or I'll scratch you up." Catra went back to the controls, hitting a few of them in a row and waiting for something to happen. 

"Well, you won't find out like _that,_ " overalls pushed Catra aside and started doing something. In a few seconds, Catra watched as the screen started to rewind. 

"Stop!" Catra pointed at her car. "There it is." The video started playing, and she watched as a certain dramatic asshole broke into her car and drove away with it. They made sure to smile at the camera and flip it off before backing out and driving away.

"That _asshole!_ " Catra growled, taking out her phone to send a few choice words to them. 

"You know who it is?" Overalls asked her.

"Yes, its this motherfucker from my financial management class! Ugh! I _knew_ college would screw me over!"

Overalls hummed, then took out a recorder. "Subject seems to be experiencing some regret over losing her car, or over enrolling in the system, although I'm not quite sure how those two events are related." She clicked it off and leaned up to look Catra in the eye. "So would you say that entering college is the reason you've lost your car?"

Catra stared at her, dumbfounded. "No."

Overalls nodded. "Then how did college screw you over?"

Catra laughed. Then realized Overalls wasn't joking. 

"Look, Overalls, I'd love to stick around and explain, but I need to go commit a crime, so..." she gestured for Overalls to move aside. She didn't, still smiling blankly at Catra. 

"We can talk about this... later... if you want?" Catra was getting really uncomfortable under that earnest gaze and remembered that this woman _had_ been running away from security a few days ago, and her robot was _armed._

Overalls squealed and thrusted a card out to her. "I would _love_ to!" Catra plucked the card out of her hand and carefully moved away from Overalls before running out of the room. Distantly, she could hear her speaking, "Subject is open to more testing and questioning!"

Catra shivered, reading the business card. 

_Entrapta Dryl  
Computer Software Engineer  
Data Scientist  
AI Specialist..._

Catra stopped. 

That woman, Entrapta, was a fucking _genius_ by the looks of it.

Maybe... she could be helpful.

Catra added her number to her contact list under "people that can help you defeat your enemies", which was in between the groups "not enemies" and "enemies".

***

**_October 28th, 2017_ **

"Hey, Emily." Emily whirred and beeped at her, letting Catra into the apartment.

"Catra!" she flicked her mask off. "You actually came!"

"Don't get too pleased," Catra muttered, hopping on top on the counter of Entrapta's work table, "I just came to make sure you don't kill yourself."

Entrapta went poker-faced, a sign she was thinking, before flicking her mask back down. Catra had figured that that was her way of trying to hide her emotions and honestly, she could relate.

"So," Catra adjusted her headband, "What life-threatening machine did you make this time? Killer robots? Oh wait, you've already done that!"

Entrapta took her mask off again, beaming at Catra. "Happy Birthday!"

"Thanks but you didn't answer my question." Catra pushed an empty paper cup of coffee off the table. "What'd you wanna show me?"

Entrapta opened a desk, pulling out a hammer, and gave it to Catra, still grinning. Catra took it, looking at it confusedly.

"Wh - is this supposed to be a birthday present?" Catra asked, jumping off the table to stand next to the mad scientist. She was still rummaging around the drawer, before pulling out a remote with an excited yell. 

"No," Entrapta pointed the remote and pressed the green button, and Catra watched as one of the machines resembling Emily stood up and walked towards them.

 _"Racism."_ it said in an electronic voice. _"Mr. Trump. Student loan debt. Black coffee."_

Catra looked between the bot and the hammer in her hand, buggy-eyed.

"Entrapta... is this... what I think it is?" Catra said, a sadistic smile creeping on her face. 

"I made a bot and programmed it to say things meant to anger you so you can release your frustration by hitting it!" Entrapta squealed, waving her arms around. "Happy Birthday!"

Catra laughed, and tested the hammer, smacking it lightly against the bot's head. 

_"Capitalism."_ Catra smacked it again, harder. _"The word moist."_

Catra started howling. "This -" _smack_ "- is - " _smack_ " - the - " _smack_ " - best birthday - " _smack_ " - ever!"

Entrapta clicked her recorder on. "My hypothesis was right. Subject Catra enjoys violence, and I assume this bot will be a healthy coping mechanism for her as opposed to scream-crying."

Catra was too distracted with assaulting the bot to take offense to what Entrapta had just said. 

After she had finally had enough, she took out her phone - first to warn Glimmer that she was coming back soon so they should get her 'surprise' party ready - then to move Entrapta's contact. 

_Move **overalls** to "not enemies?"_

_One moment..._

_Contact moved successfully._

***

_**August 9th,** **2019**_

"Hello?"

_"Catra! Come to the field!"_

"The field where you set me on fire?"

_"I didn't set you on fire, Emily junior did."_

Sigh. "I'll be over in 10 minutes."

Entrapta had made a drone. An actual drone. That could combat the government.

"Entrapta," Catra said as she gleefully took some practice shots on some bots Entrapta had set around the empty field, "I think I may not hate you."

Entrapta giggled and clapped her hands.

"Did you hear that, Emily?" she tried to whisper to her robot. "Catra just said she's my friend!"

Catra smiled.

***

_**April 4th, 2020** _

Catra frowned. Hordak frowned right back.

"I don't like it."

"It's name is Hordak!" Entrapta replied, presenting him with her arms spread out like Will Smith. 

"I meant _this,"_ Catra gestured to the both of them, "This _thing_ you guys have got going on. I don't like it. It's weird."

Hordak growled. "I'm not very fond of _you_ and Entrapta's bond, either."

Entrapta, arms still presenting Hordak, smiled awkwardly between him and Catra. "Well," Entrapta dropped her hands and rested one of them on her chin, "This was an unexpected outcome of this social interaction. Emily, record this!"

_Beep beep._

"Find out why people don't get along!"

Catra narrowed her eyes at Hordak. Something about him seemed off to her, and while she didn't know exactly what it was, she didn't like it. 

Hordak grunted and shoved past her to get something for Entrapta. 

Catra hissed at him quietly. 

_I'm definitely fucking that guy up with the nerf._

***

_**March, 2021** _

"Hello!?" Catra called out into the empty castle. "Anyone home!?"

Her echo voiced back, but other than that, silence.

"I heard this place belongs to some sort of genius?" Catra walked deeper into the dark. "I uh, I was hoping you could help me? I got sort of lost and -" Melog mewled pitifully, calling her back. "- I think I accidentally adopted a magic cat." More silence, save for Melog's whines.

Then, something started to whir. Lines of purple light started to stretch across the dark room, and a tall figure with two glowing eyes started to approach her, it's feet lightly thudding the floor. Catra stayed absolutely still as the figure leaned itself down, the glowing eyes matching hers, as a strand of purple fur came in between them.

"What the _fuck,"_ Catra whispered, the strand - which Catra realized was hair and not fur - flicking to rest of the bottom of the figure's dark face. "What the hell are you..." Catra backed away.

The strand snapped the face - the _mask - off_ to reveal Entrapta Dryl, smiling brightly at Catra like she hadn't almost given her a heart attack. 

"Hi Catra!"

Catra gazed at her, dumbfounded. "Your hair."

Entrapta's hair curled around, dropping her on her feet. "Yeah, what about it?"

"It. It moves."

Some of Entrapta hair came to pat Catra's head. "Yes, it does! Good observation, Catra."

Then her hair shot up, and Catra watched as Entrapta disappeared into a vent above them. 

Melog managed to push the castle doors open and was now seated beside Catra. They turned their head up to where she could hear Entrapta noisily searching for something, and meowed.

_Is Princess Entrapta assisting us?_

Catra felt like someone had slipped her fifteen edibles. She started sob-laughing, resting her hands on her knees and trying to catch her breath.

 _Friend,_ the magical alien cat hummed directly into her mind, _are you well? I can sense your discomfort, but you do not seem to be in any pain._

Entrapta dropped down.

"Catra! Are you having another mental breakdown?"

Catra sob-laughed harder and nodded frantically. 

"What the FUCK is going on?!" she strained, "I can't - why is it - _"_ she pointed at Melog, " - _talking!?_ First the fucking _horse_ now this bullshit -"

Catra started to pace up and down.

"Why the fuck are you here -" she waved heavily at Entrapta, "-why do you have prehensile fucking hair - I - fucking - what the fuck! WHAT THE FUCK!”

Entrapta rested a tendril of hair on Catra's shoulder. "Do you want me to get you a bot you can assault so you can cope with these feelings?" she asked gently.

Catra stopped sob-laughing for a moment, and closed her eyes to just _breathe._

"Yes, please."

Entrapta whistled, and Catra could hear something whizzing in the distance.

"Oh, and welcome to Etheria!"


	2. the parent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _ohhhh right we kidnapped you. lol i forgot about that! crazy_
> 
> ***
> 
> Scorpia sobbed as she picked her Wildcat up and carried her around like a newborn baby, wailing _"I'm so sorry!"_
> 
> ***
> 
> "You couldn't land a date with me if you were _five times_ as strong as her."
> 
> _"Do you wanna fucking bet?"_
> 
> ***
> 
> AKA, when your childhood crush disappears, its probably best to _not_ assume they were killed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some soft scorpia for ur soul :)
> 
> tw: flashbacks to the first week of november

**_Few Years Ago_ **

“I dare you to go into Weaver’s office,” Lonnie said smirking.

Catra snarled at her. “I’d rather chew my own foot.”

“You already do.”

_“That was one time!”_

Lonnie snickered at her. “You know, that’s why we call her Catra,” she explained to Scorpia, who was innocently sitting by Rogelio playing rock-paper-scissors. “She acts like a cat all the time.”

Scorpia blinked at her, then smiled at Catra. “You’re like a wild cat, huh?”

She snarled again, rolling her eyes, then arching out her back and sighing in relief –

Maybe she did act like a cat sometimes.

“I’m not going into that stupid, creepy office. Do you have any idea what’s in there?”

“No, genius, that’s why I’m asking _you_ to go check it out.”

“Why don’t _you_?”

“I asked you first.”

“Well I said no.”

“You can’t say _no,_ it’s truth or dare.”

Kyle piped up nervously from where he was sitting behind Rogelio. “Catra… maybe it’s good you don’t go in there. Weaver might get mad.”

Both girls turned to glare at him.

“What,” Catra scoffed, “You think I’m _scared_ of Weaver?”

“No, of course not!” Kyle protested, “I’m just saying it’s better you stay out of her way.”

Catra stood up and pointed at him accusingly. “You think I’m not _good enough_ to sneak into her office and get away with it?”

“Of course I do -”

“Really? So you won’t mind if I go ahead then?”

He paled and shrunk in on himself. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Lonnie smiling.

“So you’ll do it then?” she said, at the same time Kyle said, “Don’t do it!”

Her spite for Kyle won over not wanting to be told what to do by Lonnie.

“What are we going to do if she gets back?” Kyle said, worriedly chewing his lip as they all approached the door to the study.

“I could jump out the window,” Catra offered.

“No!”

“Sure.”

“Um,” Scorpia rested each of her hands on Kyle’s and Lonnie’s shoulders, separating them so she could speak to Catra. “I’m not saying you won’t totally land on your feet, Wildcat, but uh, it’s a hard fall. You might need someone to catch you.”

She groaned and fiddled with the knob. “Who the hell is going to catch me if I fall?”

“Me.” Scorpia said casually. Catra froze and stared at her.

“You?”

“Yeah, I’ll wait out there – Rogelio can keep a lookout and warn me – and if you have to make a break for it you can jump out, and I’ll catch you.”

“You’re going to catch me if I fall?” Catra repeated. Scorpia nodded, heat blooming across her face.

“I’m certainly the only one that _can,”_ she waved her beefy arms to exaggerate her point. “Come on Rogelio!” she cheered, quickly making her way out and into the backyard. He grumbled and took off after her.

Catra felt a small smile and a warm feeling inside – then pushed the door open and was met with cold, _cold_ air.

***

**_One Week Later_ **

Catra blinked the lights out of her eyes.

Was she finally dead?

She took a deep breath, and smiled at the scent of waffles and syrup wafting in.

“Waffles?” she said dreamily, pushing herself up, feeling better than she had – well, ever.

Until she looked around, saw that she was in a random bed, and memories of _Weaver_ and _masks_ and fucking _shadows_ and _pain_ –

Her heart began to race. Someone – someone took her?

Lonnie? Kyle and Rogelio? They… they ran, right?

Catra dragged herself out of the soft bed and crept out of the room, watching for anyone.

Those two, whoever the _fuck_ they were, they – they saved her, and then that guy and the _world’s best aunt_ kidnapped her? She’d call someone, but one, no phone, and two, she was pretty sure if she called the police they’d throw her into the system and she’d get even more fucked up than she already was.

Seeing that the coast was clear, she began creeping down the hallway towards what she _hoped_ were the stairs to the exit.

Catra stopped when she heard voices from downstairs.

What were her options, here?

She could run right now, go back to the empty house, or… Catra peered down the banister.

_Woah._ The place was huge. There was a chandelier hanging in the downstairs hallway, two wide open rooms for guests, and then a place in the back where she could hear someone talking and smell the waffles cooking.

Catra tip-toed down the stairs. Down the right hall was the front door. Down the left was the smell of waffles.

It… it couldn’t hurt to at least _thank_ them for saving her, right?

So, she wandered into the back. There was a living room on one side, and a kitchen and a backdoor to the other. Standing in the kitchen with bowls of batter and a waffle iron in front of him was a boy around her age with dark hair and warm eyes. He was speaking to someone on the phone and said goodbye once the microwave behind him started to beep. He turned to reach for whatever he had warmed up.

“Why the fuck do you have a bow and arrow?”

Arrow Boy turned back in surprise, smiling once he saw her. “Hiya, buddy,” he spoke slowly, as if trying not to startle her, and walked out from behind the counter. Two things she noticed as Arrow approached her like a frightened animal, one: he was wearing a stupid crop-top with a giant, red heart in the middle. Two: he had a plate of warm waffles and syrup.

“You gave us a scare… we weren’t sure you’d wake up,” Crop-Top offered her the waffles. Catra’s mouth watered. She _was_ quite hungry. The last time she had eaten something that wasn’t frozen or dried was when Scorpia hopped over their shared fence and offered the three of them a packed dinner.

“You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to, but no one here would mind if you hung out for a while… until you figure out what you wanna do now.”

Catra thought about it. She remembered the hot pain searing through her body when she was with Weaver, the biting cold air when she was on her own out there… and then looked at Crop-Top with his warm brown eyes and kind smile.

She took the waffles and sat down.

Because really, what else were you supposed to do when someone offered you free food?

***

**_5:21 November 5 th, 2020_ **

“Hey, Catra.”

Catra heard Adora’s smile in her voice as she entered her office.

“How are you – CATRA!”

Adora dropped onto her knees next to Catra, who was laying facedown on the floor.

“Smdssnms.” She mumbled, voice muffled by the floor.

“What?” Adora asked, rubbing circles into her back. Catra raised her head a little bit and gave Adora the same dead look Adora had given to _her_ a few weeks ago.

“Destiel is canon.”

Then she flopped back onto the floor, unable to cope.

***

“This’ll make you feel better,” Adora hopefully stated, bringing Swift Wind to a stop. Catra was busy looking around in awe at all the changes made to her old neighbourhood, then hopped off to walk into the convenience store that offered her a treat she had been craving for years:

Gray Ration Bars, nutrient loaded, peanut-free, and _tasteless_ to be honest. But somehow Catra’s favourite snack. She’d offhandedly mentioned it to Adora, and the girl decided the only thing that could get Catra back into a good mood after the absolute shitstorm of a day – _week_ she was having, only a gray bar would snap her out of her shock.

It was a great idea at the time –

But life had other plans for the tired café worker.

Because within two seconds of walking into the musty store with disgustingly bright white buzzing lights, someone screamed so loud that Catra nearly jumped out of her skin. She grabbed Adora and yanked her down to hide behind a shelf.

“Did someone get shot again?” Catra asked, loudly. It wasn’t really an odd occurrence, from what she remembered of her time living in the area. Adora glanced at her worriedly, asking if she should go to help.

“Nah, just give it a second. They’ll figure it out.”

Usually after someone got shot in their store, the manager would take out their own shotgun and tell both people involved to get out before they scared off the other customers.

What happened this time was even more concerning, at least to Catra.

Scorpia – _her_ Scorpia – the one that had a huge crush on her – the jock that kept others off her back at school (even when Catra very rudely informed her that she was _very capable_ of taking care of herself) – the Scorpia she had never tried to contact.

_That_ Scorpia was standing in front of her, tears welling up in her eyes, mouth open in shock from having screamed, staring at Catra crouched down on the floor in front of her with Adora behind her.

“Wildcat?” she asked, reverently.

“Excuse me?” Adora said coldly, standing up behind her as she answered, “Hey, Scorpia.”

Scorpia began to sob as she picked her Wildcat up and carried her around like a newborn baby, wailing. "I'm so sorry!"

Catra shrieked and tried to get out of her grasp, but Scorpia was always much stronger than her. It ceased once Adora practically ripped her out of Scorpia’s arms. “Who the _hell_ are you?” she asked, glaring and holding Catra protectively.

Scorpia glared back. “Are _you_ the one that took her!?”

“ _You’re_ the one that just picked her up!”

“BOTH OF YOU -” oh, _there_ he was, Old Man Sal with his shotgun. “TAKE THIS OUTSIDE OR ELSE!”

Scorpia winced, apologized, and left the shop, Adora close behind her, still holding Catra.

“Sorry, Sal,” Catra called out to him, wrapping her arms around Adora’s neck.

Sal blinked at her, lowering his shotgun. “That’s not my name – wait, didn’t you die?”

“Yeaaaaah, I don’t care what your name is, Bill. See ya.”

***

Adora was still glaring at Scorpia, and Swift Wind seemed to be glaring from his spot next to where the bicycles were parked. Although, his glare was more projected at Adora for leaving him to be pet and cooed at by a bunch of kids.

Scorpia was looking down at Adora, ready to fight.

“As much as I love this,” Catra piped up, interrupting their glowering, “Can you please put me _the fuck_ down so I can explain to Scorpia – yes, _that_ Scorpia – that I didn’t die, nor was I taken hostage?”

Adora blushed, realizing she was still very possessively holding Catra to her chest. She remembered who Scorpia was, right? Catra had admitted having a best friend when she was younger while she was falling asleep staring at the projection of stars in her room.

Adora must’ve had some memory of who she was, so she embarrassingly let Catra down on the ground to talk, where she gave a half-assed, non-magical version of what had happened to her.

“Okay, so, Weaver was involved in some shady shit – what a surprise – and some guys came to take her out, there was a fight and I got hurt so the people took me back to their house and fixed me up and let me live there, and I sort of wanted to forget all of that happened so… Sorry I didn’t call you?”

There was a breath of silence, Adora retreating to Swift Wind. Catra stood her, a little ashamed that she had never sought to find her friends, let alone step anywhere _near_ these streets in all that time. Instead of scolding her and walking away as Catra probably would if someone had cut _her_ off like that, Scorpia let out a sigh of relief, reaching out to hug her.

“No - !” Too late, she was being hugged.

“I thought something _terrible_ had happened to you!”

A brief image of mask melting into a face and the memory of a curse being etched into her veins made Catra glad her face was hidden in Scorpia’s hug.

“I’m just really glad you were safe, Wildcat.” She released her hug, and pulled back to look Catra in the eyes. “Um… by the way… who’s that tall woman looking at me like she wants to kill me?”

Catra turned back and saw Adora giving Scorpia the same glare she had given to Sherlock, and swallowed because of her suddenly very dry throat.

_Dumb gay bitch disease is an ever-present condition._

“That’s my girlfriend,” Catra said a little breathlessly, not expecting Adora to get _jealous._ Scorpia had surely grown out of that slight crush, right?

“Oh.” She said a little disappointedly. Apparently not. She’d given the same _oh_ when Catra turned down her subtle offer of a date. “So – um – how are things?”

Things were getting weird enough, already, so Catra didn’t drag out their goodbyes after exchanging numbers and promising to keep in touch. She ran back to Swift Wind and got out of the streets she had once called home.

***

**_12:01 AM November 6 th, 2021_ **

“So… Scorpia, huh?” Adora whispered into Catra’s neck while she scrolled aimlessly down Instagram.

Catra sighed, putting her phone down. “What about her?”

“She’s nice.”

“You met her for five minutes, barely, and you were glaring at her the whole time.”

Adora’s grip tightened on Catra’s side. “You gonna ask her out?”

Catra laughed, then realized Adora was being serious.

“Yeah, maybe,” she fake-considered, trying to rile her up, “I mean, did you _see_ those _arms?_ If we weren’t dating, damn…”

Adora suddenly pulled away to look Catra in the eyes. “She’s not your type.” She said roughly.

“What, and _you_ are?”

“Yeah.”

“As if.”

Adora looked very visibly offended now.

“You definitely aren’t my type, Princess. If it weren’t for that whole curse thing, you wouldn’t even have had a chance with me.”

She huffed and laid back down on the bed. “Whatever. I could definitely just flex or something in front of you. _Then_ we’ll see if I’m your type.”

Catra snickered at the idea of Adora purposefully trying to show off in front of her. “Really? Do you think you’re more impressive than Scorpia?”

“I’m at least twice as strong as her.”

"You couldn't land a date with me if you were _five times_ as strong."

_"Do you wanna fucking bet?"_

Catra laughed, dismissing her, and opening her phone.

Then she read what was on it and turned it back off, wordlessly reaching over and turning off the side lamp.

“Catra?” Adora asked, worried at the sudden mood change.

“Putin fucking resigned.”

***

_ Bright Moon Café Group Chat _

**_vodka aunt:_ ** _ohhhh right we kidnapped you. lol i forgot about that! crazy_

**_sparkles:_ ** _how do you FORGET that you KIDNAPPED SOMEONE?_

**_vodka aunt:_ ** _In my defense  
 **vodka aunt:** It was Micah’s idea_

**_that guy:_ ** _IT WAS N OT_

**_vodka aunt:_ ** _listen I was perfectly happy letting that monster rot but SOMEONE just HAD to go after her_

**_that guy:_ ** _CASTA STOP LYING  
 **that guy:** YOU HATED HER AS MUCH AS ME AND YOU WERE H A P P Y THAT SHE WAS GONE_

**_vodka aunt:_ ** _Never said I wasn’t  
 **vodka aunt:** I just didn’t think it was that necessary to literally HUNT HER DOWN   
**vodka aunt:** and get rid of her_

_lol  
remember the outfit he wore  
that fucking  
pink sorcerer shit_

**_vodka aunt:_ ** _purple*  
 **vodka aunt:** look at this dork _

**_that guy:_ ** _it is an ETHERIAN  
 **that guy:** TRADITIONAL  
 **that guy:** HAND-MADE  
 **that guy:** SORCERERS GUILD   
Typing… _

**_sparkles:_ ** _dad get off ur high horse and just say dress_

**_that guy:_ ** _ITS NOT A DRESS IT’S A GOWN  
 **that guy:** I RAISED YOU BETTER THAN THIS_

**_angella (deceased):_ ** _Actually, I did  
 **angella (deceased):** you spoiled her so much and made me do all the reprimanding _

_Oh fuck  
I forgot u existed_

**_sparkles:_ ** _CATRA_

_in this gc I mean_

_Typing…_

**_angella (deceasedn’t): it’s_ ** _no problem, dear :)  
 **angella (deceasedn’t):** by the way we’re having halibut with lemon and grapefruit tonight_

_Angella  
please  
tell me you didn’t add fucking citrus to the fish when you know DAMN WELL im FUCKING ALLERGIC_

**_angella (deceasedn’t):_ ** _You’re not allergic, you just have an aversion to it.  
 **angella (deceasedn’t):** and the only thing you are allergic to is feelings_

_SKDJSKDJS  
UNCALLED FOR???_

_Typing…_

**_sparkles:_ ** _GET HER ASS MOM_

***

_ Bright Moon Café Group Chat _

_I should’ve just ran away_

***

_ sparkles _

_wheres the charger_

_living room_

_its not there  
catra???  
helloooo  
bitch  
where’s the fucking charger  
BITCH_

_I don’t fucking know  
if its not in the living room ask casta_

***

_It was in your FUCKING ROOM YOU BITCH_

_oh yeah I forgot I put it there for adora_

_I SWEAR TO GOD  
SOMEDAY I’M GONNA CURSE YOUR ASS_

_my ass is already cursed babey ;)  
can you take a number?_

_sure_

_you’re #314 in line, I’ll get back to you within four to five business days_

***

**_January 4 th, 2021_ **

“Hi, how can I help yo – oh no.”

Scorpia and Entrapta sat in one of the tables, they were _talking._

No, no… these were two _very_ separate parts of her life that she really _did not want_ to have interact. Entrapta looked excited at something Scorpia mentioned to her and pulled her goggles down, eagerly tapping at something on her tablet.

Catra watched them for a while. They were comfortable… _too_ comfortable. She held out hope that neither of them knew they were mutual friends with one Catra Weaver.

“Miss?” a timid voice called to her. Catra turned and saw a student anxiously clutching _To Kill A Mockingbird_ in one hand, and a ten-dollar bill in the other. She’d forgotten she was meant to be taking someone’s order.

Catra genuinely smiled at the young kid, who was scared out of their _mind_. Was this their first time in Bright Moon Café?

“Hi! Sorry about the wait, I got distracted,” Catra adjusted the machine and got ready to enter an order, “You know what you wanna order?”

The student smiled back. “No problem! It’s fine, I uh, can I have a medium hot chocolate?”

“Yep. Anything else?”

“And uh – a cronut.”

“What kind?”

“What – sorry, could you give me a second?” The kid was fiddling with their book as their eyes searched the menu for what they wanted. Catra let them take their time.

“That’s a great book, by the way.” She smiled at the kid as she handed them the paper bag and the hot chocolate. “Here’s something that might be useful in English class: Ever notice how Tim Johnson and Tom Robinson have similar names?”

The student looked at their book in thought, then beamed when a realization came to them. “Thanks, Miss.”

Catra watched as the kid stumbled out the front door, holding it open for another customer and doing their best to avoid bumping into anyone else.

She remembered all too well the anxiety of being that age, unsure of what to expect and what you _can_ and _cannot_ have. She remembered a certain someone showing her compassion and _always_ being a kind presence in her life. Then she remembered that certain someone was now standing a few feet away from her.

“Hey, Wildcat!” Scorpia, her childhood former-best friend, smiled at her, and then gestured to Entrapta, who was arguably the second or third most tolerable person in her life. ( ~~First spot was reserved for Adora. It had always been reserved for Adora. It was given to her the first time Adora sung her to sleep.)~~

“That’s Entrapta, you two know each other apparently?”

“I’ve never met that person before in my life,” Catra lied easily.

Then she chuckled to herself. What would that flower hippie say if she were here, watching Catra push someone that cared about her away?

Scorpia looked a little crestfallen, but nonetheless had her smile back up at Catra in a moment.

“Alright then! I heard her talking about a ‘subject C’ that oddly resembled you, so I thought,” she shrugged, “But I guess not. Must be a differe – “

“I was lying,” Catra admitted, noticing the general business of the place had died down, so she walked around the counter to flip the sign to _closed,_ then pressed the lock so no one would be able to open it from the other side. “Hold on, I’ll come by and bring us all drinks in a second.”

Maybe it wasn’t so bad that Scorpia was back. Maybe it was time for Catra to acknowledge her life before Bright Moon.

***

**_February 6 th, 2021_ **

It was.

“Fuck you, Glimmer.” Catra spoke as she walked around the giant cake.

Glimmer finally started breaking into laughter, while Adora and Scorpia at least had the decency to act shocked.

“But – what,” Adora looked at the _congratulations_ cake, “You don’t like it?”

“It’s your favourite flavour,” Scorpia added, “Vanilla box cake with cinnamon!”

Catra groaned, pulling out the box of tea Jaquan had left for her.

“Let me guess, Glimmer didn’t tell you guys?”

Scorpia rolled the cake stand – who the fuck decided to spend money on a goddamn _movable cake stand_ – in front of Catra.

“Isn’t today the day you finally become the official owner of Bright Moon?”

Beneath the cake stand, something wobbled, creaked… then _broke._

Scorpia screamed and pushed the cart away, and Catra let out a _cackle_ watching Adora and Glimmer jump back in fear.

“What the _fu – “_

“NOT THE CAKE – “

“For the HONO – “

The side of the cart broke open and out came Entrapta. “Catra’s actually going to _quit_ Bright Moon today.”

Adora was two seconds away from turning into She-Ra and Glimmer had a fistful of sparkles. They both dropped the magic as quick as they could, pretending like they _weren’t_ about to assault the scientist.

Catra had let it slip to Adora that she was taking a huge decision regarding her future at Bright Moon. But she had _told_ Glimmer that the decision was to _quit._ If they needed help for a week or so, managing the finances or just _being there,_ she’d be there, but other than that – she was done.

She’d even told Adora to not make a big deal about anything, but of course they tried to throw a surprise party for her, assuming that Catra had decided to take on a bigger role at the café.

Entrapta finished climbing out of the stand, so Catra silently took out $20 and gave it Entrapta. “The toaster’s over there. Go off,” before she’d even finished her sentence Entrapta had the toaster dismantled and was adding her own experimental repairs to it.

Scorpia still looked shocked. “Catra – _why?_ I mean, you don’t have to work there forever but, its still your _job_.”

She shrugged. “I never needed it, you know. I don’t pay for rent, or my phone bill, or anything, really. I took it because I didn’t want to be a burden or whatever.”

Glimmer gave her a _look,_ but Scorpia stopped her and Adora from speaking. “Hey, why don’t we talk for a second?”

***

“…so you’ll wait?” Scorpia finished.

Catra tapped her nails on the table. She’d given her a lot to think about.

“…Okay.”

Scorpia smiled, and they stayed there in brewing silence for a second, when Entrapta squealed in pain. Before she could even react, Scorpia was there and pulling her away from the toaster – which was now sparking with visible bolts of electricity and jumping around.

“Woah, are you okay?”

The toaster jumped, hitting Entrapta with another bolt of electricity, and Catra was about to go get her hammer to kill it with, but when she turned back around, Scorpia had somehow managed to destroy it and save Entrapta from death by toaster.

“Huh.”

***

“So, you knew I’d plan something, and you hired Entrapta to scare the living shit out of me?”

Catra swiped some icing on her finger and popped it into her mouth. “What, are you mad or something?”

Adora wrapped her arms around her, looking at her disgustingly sweet. “The opposite.”

***

**_March, 2021_ **

“Wildcat!”

“I can’t do this anymore.”

“Uh. Wildcat?”

Scorpia rested her hand – no, her fucking _pincer_ – on Catra’s shoulder, gazing at her with worried eyes.

Perfuma’s voice came from behind Catra. “Oh, Scorpia? I think we sort of failed to mention that you’re with us.”

“Ohhh.” Scorpia said, removing her pincer from Catra’s shoulder and smiling sheepishly at her. “Oof, you’d think we’d have talked about it at some point, huh?”

“Yeah, you’d think.” Catra said through gritted teeth. She felt another urge to start scream-laughing again, and Melog appeared beside her, glowing with a calming blue energy. The weird alien cat thing was helping her, somehow. She didn’t mind them anymore – at least they weren’t fucking _Smudge._

_Deep breaths, friend,_ Melog told her, _do you require sustenance? I shall fetch you some from the woods. Remain here, it is safe._

“Uh huh, yeah, sure,” Catra nodded her head, “Totally gonna ignore how that implies there are places here that _aren’t_ safe because I don’t think I can deal with that right now.”

Melog disappeared, and Perfuma sat her down while Entrapta and Scorpia got caught up – Entrapta was now doing some sort of experiment with the electricity that shot out of Scorpia’s _fucking tail??_

“What the fuck,” she whispered, absentmindedly taking a cup of tea offered to her by the flower princess and gulping it in one go, not even blinking her eyes. Huge mistake on her part, really, because she started coughing and sputtering the _second_ the teacup hit the table.

_Friend!_ Melog’s voice yelled, and they reappeared beside Catra, startling her even more with the big, green, plastic cup of smoothie that they were –

“Melog –“ Catra coughed, hitting her chest to clear her throat, “You – h-have – _thumbs?”_

Melog nodded and offered her the smoothie.

Catra accepted the green smoothie that had been fetched from the woods apparently from the glowing, telepathic, alien shapeshifter that had apparently bonded emotionally with Catra just because she said _pspsps_ to it after accidentally wandering off from her 8-foot-tall magical Princess of a girlfriend and the family of sorcerers that adopted her.

Because really, what else were you supposed to do when someone offered you free food?

***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Introduction to Scorpia: the mom friend making sure the group is emotionally and physically healthy
> 
> i'm taking a writer's course and suddenly in the middle of class im like **haha this might be cool to use if i was writing** then i remembered **oh fuck i have like four wips and people are actually waiting for two of them**
> 
> so this chapter is unedited and i think its rushed so tell me honestly if there's more i should expand on/anything i can improve on

**Author's Note:**

> Introduction to Entrapta: the braincell of the group
> 
> also another little tidbit of the "other side" and Melog :)
> 
> anyways i wrote this at 2am so if there's something in this chapter that didn't really make sense feel free to be like "Bitch?? the fuck you talking about???" and ask me specific questions. if i don't reply its probably bc it'll be explained in the next chapter!
> 
> alSO I wrote another fic (the reason why this update took so long!), okay so you know how in this fic everything is on crack? and fluffy? and nothing is too serious or dark? 
> 
> yeah my other fic is nothing like that. it has ALL the angst. all the tension. the latest chapter made ME cry and im the one who wrote it. BUT IT HAS A HAPPY ENDING! its an arranged marriage au set in an etheria without magic. also there's a baby that catradora has to raise. also glimbow wedding. so if you want all that go read yellow days!! if u dont then thats cool just follow along this one!!!!


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